Latest / The Frances Hodgson Burnett Library / The Shuttle Chapter 6 - An Unfair Endowment

Transcript

The Shuttle Chapter 6 - An Unfair Endowment · The Frances Hodgson Burnett Library

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: CHAPTER VI. AN UNFAIR ENDOWMENT To Bettina Vanderpool had been given,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: to an extraordinary extent, the extraordinary thing which is called beauty,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: which is a thing entirely set apart from mere good
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: looks or prettiness. This thing is extraordinary, because if statistics
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: were taken, the result would probably be the discovery that
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: not three human beings in a million really possess it.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: that it should be bestowed at all, since it's so rare,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: seems as unfair a thing as appears to the mere
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: mortal mind the bestowal of unbounded wealth, since it quite
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: as inevitably places the life of its owner upon an
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: abnormal plane. There are millions of pretty women and billions
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: of personable men, but the man or woman of entire
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: physical beauty may cross one's pathway only once in a lifetime,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: or not at all. In the latter case it is
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: natural to doubt the absolute truth of the rumours that
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: the thing exists. The abnormal creature seems a mere freak
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: of nature, and may chance to be angel, criminal, totaled insipidity, virago,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: or enchanter, but let such a one enter a room
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: or appear in the street, and heads must turn, eyes
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: light and follow, souls yearn or envy, or sink under
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: the discouragement of comparison. With the complete harmony and perfect
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: balance of the singular thing, it would be folly for
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: the rest of the world to compete. A human being
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: who had lived in poverty for half a lifetime might,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: if suddenly endowed with limitless fortune, retain to a certain
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: extent balance of mind. But the same creature, having lived
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: the same number of years a wholly unlovely thing, suddenly
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: awakening to the possession of entire physical beauty, must find
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: the strain upon pure sanity greater and the balance less
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: easy to preserve. The relief from the conscious or unconscious
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: tension bred by the sense of imperfection, the calm surety
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: of the fearlessness of meeting in any eye a look
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: not lighted by pleasure— would be less normal than the
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: knowledge that no wish need remain unfulfilled, no fancy ungratified.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Even at sixteen Betty was a long-limbed young nymph whose
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: small head, set high on a fine slim column of throat,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: might well have been crowned with the garland of some
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: goddess of health and the joy of life. She was
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: light and swift, and being a creature of long lines
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: and tender curves, there was pleasure in the mere seeing
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: her move. The cut of her spirited lip and delicate
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: nostril made for a profile at which one turned to
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: look more than once despite oneself. Her hair was soft
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: and black, and repeated its colour in the extravagant lashes
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: of her childhood, which made mysterious the changeful dense blue
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: of her eyes. There were eyes with laughter in them,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: and pride, and a suggestion of many deep things yet unstirred.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: She was rather unusually tall, and her body had the
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: suppleness of a young bamboo. The deep corners of her
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: red mouth curled generously, and the chin, melting into the
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: fine line of the lovely throat, was at once strong
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: and soft and lovely. She was a creature of harmony,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: warm richness of colour, and brilliantly alluring life. When her
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: school days were over, she returned to New York and
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: gave herself into her mother's hands. Her mother's kindness of
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: heart and sweet-tempered lovingness were touching things to Bettina. In
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: the midst of her millions, Mrs. Vanderpool was wholly unworldly.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Bettina knew that she felt a perpetual homesickness when she
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: allowed herself to think of the daughter who seemed lost
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: to her, and the girl's realisation of this caused her
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: to wish to be especially affectionate and amenable. She was
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: glad that she was tall and beautiful, not merely because
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: such physical gifts added to the colour and agreeableness of life,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: but because hers gave comfort and happiness to her mother.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: To Mrs. Vanderpool, to introduce to the world the loveliest
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: debutante of many years, was to be launched into a
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: new future. To concern oneself about her exquisite wardrobe was
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: to have an enlivening occupation. To see her surrounded, to
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: watch eyes as they followed her, to hear her praised,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: was to feel something of the happiness she had known
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: in those younger days, when New York had been less
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: advanced in its news and methods, and slim little blonde
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Rosalie had come out in white tulle and waltzed like
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: a fairy with a hundred partners. I wonder what Rosie
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: looks like now, the poor woman said involuntarily, one day.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: Bettina was not a fairy. When her mother uttered her exclamation,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Bettina was on the point of going out, and as
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: she stood near her, wrapped in splendid furs, she had
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the air of a Russian princess.' She could not have
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: worn the things you do, Betty,' said the affectionate maternal creature.'
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: She was such a little slight thing. But she was
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: very pretty. I wonder if twelve years have changed her much.'
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Betty turned towards her rather suddenly.' Mother,' she said, 'some
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: time before very long. I'm going to see.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: To see?
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: exclaimed Mrs. Vanderpool.' To see Rosie?'' Yes,' Betty answered.' I
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: have a plan. I have never told you of it,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: but I have been thinking over it since I was
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: fifteen years old.' She went to her mother and kissed her.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: She wore a becoming but resolute expression.' We will not
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: talk about it now,' she said.' There are some things
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: I must find out. When she'd left the room, which
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: she did almost immediately, Mrs. Vanderpool sat down and cried.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: She nearly always shed a few tears when anyone touched
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: upon the subject of Rosie. On her desk were some photographs.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: One was of Rosie as a little girl with long hair,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: one was of Lady Anstruthers in her wedding dress, and
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: one was of Sir Nigel.' I never felt as if
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: I quite liked him,' she said, looking at this last.'
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: But I suppose she does, or she would not be
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: so happy that she could forget her mother and sister.'
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: There was another picture she looked at. Rosalie had sent
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: it with the letter she wrote to her father after
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: he had forwarded the money she asked for. It was
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: a little study in watercolours of the head of her boy.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: It was nothing but a head, the shoulders being fancifully draped,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: but the face was a peculiar one. It was over-mature
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: and unlovely, but for a mouth at once pathetic and sweet.'
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: He' s not a pretty child,' sighed Mrs. Vanderpool.' I should
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: have thought Rosie would have had pretty babies.' Uhtred is
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: more like his father than his mother.' She spoke to
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: her husband later of what Betty had said.' What do
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: you think she has in her mind, Reuben?' she asked.'
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: What Betty has in her mind is usually good sense,'
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: was his response.' She will begin to talk to me
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: about it presently. I shall not ask questions yet. She's
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: probably thinking things over.' She was, in truth, thinking things over,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: as she had been doing for some time.' She had
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: asked questions on several occasions of English people she had
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: met abroad, but a schoolgirl cannot ask many questions, and
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: though she had once met someone who knew Sir Nigel Amstruthers,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: it was a person who didn't know him well, for
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: the reason that she had not desired to increase her
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: slight acquaintance. This lady was the aunt of one of
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Bettina's fellow pupils, and she was not aware of the
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: girl's relationship to Sir Nigel. What Betty gathered was that
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: her brother-in-law was regarded as a decidedly bad lot, that
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: since his marriage to some American girl he had seemed
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: to have money which he spent in riotous living, and
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: that the wife, who was said to be a silly creature,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: was kept in the country, either because her husband did
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: not want her in London, or because she preferred to
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: stay at Stornham. About the wife no one appeared to
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: know anything, in fact.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: She' s rather a fool, I believe, and Sir Nigel Anstruthers
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: is the kind of man a simpleton would be obliged
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: to submit to,' Bettina had heard the lady say.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Her own reflections upon these comments had led her through
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: various paths of thought. She could recall Rosalie's girlhood, and
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: what she herself, as an unconsciously observing child, had known
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: of her character. She remembered the simple impressionability of her mind.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: She had been the most amenable little creature in the world.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Her yielding amiability could always be counted upon as a
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: factor by the calculating. Sweet-tempered to weakness, she could be
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: beguiled or distressed into any course the desires of others dictated.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: An ill-tempered or self-pitying person could alter any line of
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: conduct she herself wished to pursue. She was neither clever
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: nor strong-minded, Betty said to herself. A man like Sir
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Nigel Anstruthers could make what he chose of her. I
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: wonder what he's done to her. Of one thing she
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: thought she was sure. This was that Rosalie's aloofness from
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: her family was the result of his design. She comprehended
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: in her maturer years the dislike of her childhood— She
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: remembered a certain look in his face which she had detested.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: She had not known then that it was the look
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: of a rather clever brute who was malignant, but she
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: knew now.' He used to hate us all,' she said
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: to herself.' He did not mean to know us when
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: he had taken Rosalie away, and he did not intend
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: that she should know us.' She had heard rumours of
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: cases somewhat parallel, cases in which girls' lives had become
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: swamped in those of their husbands and their husbands' families.'
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: and she had also heard unpleasant details of the means
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: employed to reach the desired results. Annie Butterfield's husband had
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: forbidden her to correspond with her American relatives. He had
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: argued that such correspondence was disturbing to her mind and
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: to the domestic duties which should be every decent woman's religion.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: One of the occasions of his beating her had been
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: in consequence of his finding her writing to her mother
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: a letter blotted with tears. Husbands frequently objected to their
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: wives' relatives, but there was a special order of European
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: husband who opposed violently any intimacy with American relations, on
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: the practical ground that their views of a wife's position
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: with regard to her husband were of a revolutionary nature. Mrs.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Vanderpool had in her possession every letter Rosalie or her
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: husband had ever written, Bettina asked to be allowed to
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: read them, and one morning seated herself in her own
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: room before a blazing fire with the collection on the
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: table at her side. She read them in order. Nigel's
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: began as they went on. They were all in one tone, formal, uninteresting,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: and requiring no answers. There was not a suggestion of
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: human feeling in one of them. He wrote them, said Betty,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: so that we could not say he had never written.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Rosalie's first epistles were affectionate, but timid. At the outset
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: she was evidently trying to conceal the fact that she
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: was homesick. Gradually she became briefer and more constrained. In
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: one she said pathetically, I'm such a bad letter-writer, I
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: always feel as if I want to tear up what
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: I've written, because I never say half what is in
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: my heart. Mrs. Vanderpool had kissed that letter many a time.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: She was sure that a mark on the paper near
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: this particular sentence was where a tear had fallen. Bettina
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: was sure of this too, and sat and looked at
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: the fire for some time. That night she went to
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: a ball, and when she returned home she persuaded her mother.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: To go to bed.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: I want to have a talk with father,' she exclaimed.'
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: I' m going to ask him something.' She went to the
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: great man's private room where he sat at work, even
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: after the hours when less seriously engaged people came home
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: from balls. The room he sat in was one of
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: the apartments newspapers had with much detail described. It was
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: luxuriously comfortable, and its effect was sober and rich and fine.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: When Bettina came in, Vanderpool, looking up to smile at
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: her in welcome, was struck by the fact that as
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: a background to an entering figure of tall, splendid girlhood
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: in a ball-dress, it was admirable, throwing up all its
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: whiteness and grace and sweep of line. He was always
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: glad to see Bettina. the rich strength of the life
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: radiating from her, the reality and glow of her were
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: good for him, and had the power of detaching him
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: from work of which he was tired. She smiled back
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: at him, and coming forward took her place in a
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: big armchair close to him, her lace-frilled cloak slipping from
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: her shoulders with a soft rustling sound which seemed to
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: convey her intention to stay.' Are you too busy to
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: be interrupted?' she asked, her mellow voice caressing him.' I
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: want to talk to you about something I'm going to do.'
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: She put out her hand and laid it on his,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: with a clinging firmness which meant strong feeling.' At least
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do it if you will help me,'
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: she added.' What is it, Betty?' he inquired, his usual
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: interest in her accentuated by her manner. She laid her
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: other hand on his, and he clasped both with his own.'
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: When the Worthingtons sail for England next month,' she explained,'
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: I want to go with them.' Mrs. Worthington is very
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: kind and will be good enough to take care of
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: me until I reach London.' Mr. Vanderpool moved slightly in
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: his chair. Then their eyes met comprehendingly. He saw what
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: hers held.' From there you're going to Stornham Court,' he exclaimed.'
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: To see Rosie,' she answered, leaning a little forward.' To
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: see her.'' You believe that what has happened has not
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: been her fault?' he said. There was a look in
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: her face which warmed his blood. I have always been
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: sure that Nigel Anstruth has arranged it.'' Do you think
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: he's been unkind to her?'' I' m going to see,' she answered.' Betty,'
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: he said,' tell me all about it.' He knew that
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: this was no suddenly formed plan, and he knew it
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: would be well worthwhile to hear the details of its growth.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: It was so interestingly like her to have remained silent
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: through the process of thinking a thing out, evolving her
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: final idea without having disturbed him by bringing to him
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: any chaotic uncertainties.' It' s a sort of confession,' she answered.' Father,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: I have been thinking about it for years. I said
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: nothing because for so long I knew I was only
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: a child, and a child's judgment might be worth so little.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: But through all these years I was learning things and
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: gathering evidence. When I was at school, first in one
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: country and then another—' I used to tell myself that
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: I was growing up and preparing myself to do a
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: particular thing, to go to rescue Rosie.'' I used to
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: guess you thought of her in a way of your own,'
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Vanderpool said.' But I did not guess you were thinking
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: that much. You were always a solid, loyal little thing,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: and there was business capacity in your keeping your scheme
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: to yourself. Let us look the matter in the face.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Suppose she does not need rescuing.' Suppose, after all, she
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: is a comfortable, fine lady and adores her husband. What then?
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: If I should find that to be true, I will
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: behave myself very well, as if we had expected nothing else.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: I will make her a short visit and come away.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Lady Cecilia Orme, who I knew in Florence, has asked
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: me to stay with her in London. I will go
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: to her. She is a charming woman. But I must
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: first see Rosie. See her!' Mr. Vanderpool thought the matter
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: over during a few moments of silence. You do not
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: wish your mother to go with you? he said presently.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: I believe it will be better that she should not,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: she answered. If there are difficulties or disappointments, she would
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: be too unhappy. Yes, he said slowly, and she could
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: not control her feelings. She would give the whole thing away,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: poor girl. He had been looking at the carpet reflectively,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: and now he looked at Bettina. What are you expecting
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: to find at the worst? he asked her. the kind
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: of thing which will need management while it's being looked into?''
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: I do not know what I'm expecting to find,' was
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: her reply.' We know absolutely nothing but that Rosie was
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: fond of us and that her marriage has seemed to
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: make her cease to care. She was not like that,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: she was not like that. Was she, father?'' No, she wasn't,'
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: he exclaimed.' The memory of her in her short-frocked and
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: early girlish days, a pretty, smiling, effusive thing given to
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: lavish caresses and affectionate little surprises for them all, came
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: back to him vividly.' She was the most affectionate girl
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: I ever knew,' he said.' She was more affectionate than you, Betty,'
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: with a smile. Bettina smiled in return, and bent her
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: head to put a kiss on his hand, a warm, lovely,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: comprehending kiss.' If she had been different, I should not
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: have thought so much of the change,' she said. I
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: believe that people are always more or less like themselves
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: as long as they live. What has seemed to happen
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: has been so unlike Rosie that there must be some
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: reason for it.'' You think that she has been prevented
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: from seeing us?'' I think it's so possible that I'm
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: not going to announce my visit beforehand.'' You have a
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: good head, Betty,' her father said.' If Sir Nigel has
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: put obstacles in our way before, he will do it again.'
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: I shall try to find out, when I reach London,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: if Rosalie is at Stornham. When I am sure she
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: is there, I shall go and present myself. If Sir
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Nigel meets me at the park gates and orders his
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: gamekeepers to drive me off the premises, we shall at
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: least know that he has some reason for not wishing
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: to regard the usual social and domestic amenities. I feel
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: rather like a detective. It entertains me and excites me
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: a little. The deep blue of her eyes shone under
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: the shadow of the extravagant lashes as she laughed.' Are
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: you willing that I should go farther?' she said next.' Yes,'
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: he answered.' I' m willing to trust you, Betty, to do
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: things I would not trust other girls to try at.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: If you were not my girl at all, if you
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: were a man on Wall Street, I should know you
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: would be pretty safe to come out a little more
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: than even in any venture you made. You know how
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: to keep cool.' Bettina picked up her fallen cloak and
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: laid it over her arm. It was made of billowy
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: frills of maline lace, such as only Vanderpools could buy.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: She looked down at the amazing thing and touched up
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: the frills with her fingers as she whimsically smiled.' There
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: are a good many girls who can be trusted to
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: do things in these days,' she said.' Women have found
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: out so much. Perhaps it is because the heroines of
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: novels have informed them. Heroines and heroes always bring in
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: the new fashions in character.' I believe it is years
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: since a heroine burst into a flood of tears. It
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: has been discovered, really, that nothing is to be gained
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: by it. Whatsoever I find at Stornham Court I shall
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: neither weep nor be helpless. There is the Atlantic cable,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: you know. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: heroines have changed. When they could not escape from their
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: persecutors except in a stage-coach, and could not send telegrams,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: they were more or less in everyone's hands. It's different now.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Thank you, father. you're very good to believe in me.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: End of chapter 6